North City had been snowing heavily on New Year’s Eve that year.
The entire city had been covered with thick white snow and there were dirty and muddy footprints left behind in the snow.
Since all of Yanny's work had been cancelled, she decided to return to Lushway Town to spend the new year with Heather.
It seemed that she did not even have the mood to watch the premier of 'Black and White' at twelve midnight on new year's day anymore.
She was lost when she found two movie tickets in her wallet.
They were tickets given out by the production team.
She even intentionally picked a spot at the very corner in the cinema.
She intended to watch it with Shayne back then.
Now however…
Yanny tore up the tickets and threw it in the bin.
While Heather was busy making dumplings, she asked Yanny, "Hey Yanny, is Shayne coming over to spend the new year with us? He mentioned that our home was too cold back then and now we have two air-conditioning units installed. Why isn't he here now?"
'Yeah, the house was so warm that a single thin jacket was enough to keep anyone warm. However, Shayne will never show up ever again.'
It was incredibly cold in the house last new year’s eve as both Shayne and Yanny spent their night in the car cuddling up with each other. The duo slept in the car for a full night while they waited for the new year to arrive.
Yanny gulped and did not want Heather to worry, so she brushed her off by saying, "He isn't coming since he has relatives to visit too during the new year."
Heather replied while wrapping her dumplings, "Fair point. Everyone has to visit their relatives during the new year. Invite him over when he's free then. Didn't he say that he likes my dumplings? Bring some back with you to the city for him then."
Yanny simply replied with, "Sure." She was not paying attention at all.
Yanny opened up her Messenger app and noticed that the last time she had contacted Shayne was actually last year.
She never thought that their cold war would drag on for half a year.
When she filmed 'Black and White' in Oz City back then, Shayne traveled miles to Oz City just to celebrate her birthday. He lit up a sky full of fireworks for her and she thought that their relationship would last forever back then. Now it seemed that she only made that promise due to her being caught up in the moment.
Although Yanny was not the kind of person who would cry easily, she could not help herself from tearing up.
It seemed that every memory she shared with Shayne was deep and very difficult to forget.
It was only then did she realize just how difficult it was for her to convince herself to forget about someone.
"Hey Yanny, come over here and help me make some dumplings. What are you doing in your room alone anyway?"
Yanny sniffled and said, "Oh, I'm coming."
After both Yanny and Heather finished their dinner, Heather was lazing on the couch as she watched the special new year program on T.V while Yanny was completely unfocussed as she scrolled through her phone.
She received a phone call after a brief moment had gone by.
She could hear Samuel's voice when she picked up the call, "Happy New Year's Eve, Yanny."
"You too."
She could hear fireworks coming from Samuel's end. It sounded very lively.
Samuel then said, "I'm currently in Lushway town at the junction to your home. Can we meet up?"
Yanny was stunned and felt slightly surprised since she did not expect that Samuel would still remember where her grandmother's house was after mentioning it to him many years ago.
Although Samuel showed up uninvited, Yanny had no reason not to meet him.
After hanging up the call, Yanny said, "Hey grandma, I'm going out for a while."
Heather's eyes lit up delightfully as she said, "Is Shayne here?"
"No, just meeting up with a regular friend. I'll be back in a bit."
"I remembered every single word you said to me." Samuel continued, "Regardless if those letters were actually written by you or by someone else, it isn’t important anymore. The most important thing is that I'm home and I'm able to meet you. Hence, I'm also able to try to win you over again."
Yanny burst out laughing and stared at him. "You never changed a bit even after all these years. You're still as unreasonable as you once were."
"The truth is, me trying to win you over again has absolutely nothing to do with you since this is my problem to deal with."
Yanny nodded and said, "Yeah this makes sense based on how you think, Samuel."
Samuel stared at her with an extremely serious look and said, "I admit that everything was my fault."
"But… I think I no longer have any feelings toward you."
Yanny also wished that the person she loved was still Samuel since that would be amazing for her.
How amazing it would be for a broken soul to reunite with a teenage dream after such a long time had passed.
However, reality showed that whatever they had missed out on could never return since it would be pointless to actually cling onto the past.
"People would often fall in love with a single person plenty of times in their lifetime. I belong to you forever, Yanny and I can wait for you to fall in love with me again. I didn't choose to let you waste your time alone in the spur of the moment since I've already made up my mind to do so when I dated you five years ago. It was all because of that choice alone that made me more determined to go abroad. I actually thought that I was always taking the lead in everything in our relationship. I thought that as long as I love you, even if I left you for ten years, you will still be mine."
Yanny smiled and spoke in a peaceful tone, "I thought I'd blame you forever but your sudden appearance made me realize that I actually stopped blaming you long ago. You are not wrong to pursue your career nor were you at fault in breaking up with me. The only thing was, I only wanted a home back then. I wanted to share three meals a day, spend each passing season with you but all you wanted was the pursuit of a better life and other materialistic vices back then."
"Samuel, we're both not wrong. The only thing is, we've been missing out on our life goals."
"But we won't miss out on anything anymore now and as long as you're willing, I can fulfil whatever life goals you've set for yourself together with you. It doesn't matter if it's just sharing three meals a day and spending each passing season together or your success in your acting career, but I will be there by your side."
Samuel turned around and stared at her with a warm and gentle smile before reaching out and petting her head. His gaze was filled with love.
However, Yanny stared at him with a casual smile as she was completely speechless.
She no longer needed any of that anymore.
She had already learned to endure her personal hardships all on her own.
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